Complexities
by DesiringMagic
Summary: The Doctor and Clara stuck in a shifting Tardis. (Warning: strong language)
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I honestly have no idea where this is going. I had a dream that they had an argument and got stuck in the Tardis. At first I was only writing it down to remember (since I usually forget all of my dreams, which makes me sad because I dream very rarely) but then stuff got added in magically and ideas came and yeah. I don't even know if I'm going to keep going with it but I thought I'd at least post this to motivate myself to keep going.**

* * *

"That was an incredibly _stupid_ thing for you to do."

"Why are you so angry?! We're safe aren't we? Clara shouted back, storming into the Tardis after him. Why was he being so unbearable? She just helped him save the town! He should be glad instead of chastising her like she was a five-year-old child.

He wheeled around abruptly, causing her to crash into him before quickly catching her balance. His gaze was cold and unforgiving and she had to restrain herself from looking away. Instead she stood straighter, chin held high to show him that she wasn't about to back down so easily.

"That's not the point, Clara. I told you to stay here, inside the Tardis, and what did you do instead? You deliberately ignored what I said and pranced directly to the enemy. They were _this close_ to killing you."

"I didn't _prance_, I simply bumped into them while looking for you. And I wasn't the only one close to being killed; you weren't doing any better yourself. You should be grateful that I came to help. If it wasn't for me showing up and distracting your little friends, you'd be walking around with a nice bullet wound in your head right now – oh wait, no you wouldn't because _you_ would be _dead_." Her stomach turned at the thought of him regenerating so soon; or worse yet: actually dying, but she suppressed it before he could notice. Now wasn't the time to show affection towards him; she had an argument to win after all.

"I didn't need your help. I would have been fine – always am. _You_ should have done what you were told and waited for me to fix it."

"When are you going to learn that you can't always do these things by yourself?! You may be over a thousand years old, have a screwdriver that can do practically anything along with the most powerful spaceship in the universe, and the knowledge to fill a million books, but even you need help once and a while. And I wasn't about to stand aside and watch you and the whole town get destroyed just because you were too blinded by your own ego to accept my help." She countered furiously.

"You think this is about my ego?" He looked her incredulously but his eyes seemed crestfallen, almost pained, and she wondered whether she may have had everything wrong.

"Why else would it be?" He continued to look at her with the same expression until it warped into an almost disgusted look.

"You really don't get it, do you?" When she gave no indication of knowing what he was talking about, he sneered with contempt.

"Humans, always seeing everything except for what's _right in front of you_." The Doctor shook his head before finally turning his back to her. Her anger increased and she felt insulted by his words, their tone making her feel like she was some lowly insect that was of no use to the world than to be a mere pest that needed to be crushed. She took a deep breathe, trying to keep a cool head.

"Then maybe you should explain what it is exactly that I don't get." She waited, arms crossed and ready to contradict whatever he was about to say. But he didn't say anything, the only sounds coming from his movements and the rhythmic beeping of the monitor.

"So now you're not talking to me?" He always did this, never fully explained himself and always left her in the dark.

"Not until you apologize." He responded without looking at her. She blinked in confusion. _Apologize!?_

"You can't be serious. I didn't do anything wrong!" Again, he said nothing and continued to blindly mess with the controls on the console.

"Well I hope you enjoy not taking to me because there is no way I'm apologizing for doing the right thing." She spat indignantly, marching out.

Slamming the door to her room, she sat on her bed to try to obtain some measure of control, wiping at tears of rage and frustration. So much for keeping a cool head. Groaning, she buried her head into a pillow. She'd been doing that a lot lately.

Their fights were far more frequent than before the regeneration, and even then the fights were always small and teasing. But there was no longer any room to tease with this Doctor. Their arguments were fiercer, both participants too stubborn and hot headed, neither ready to admit defeat and apologize as easily as before.

In fact, there was never really a verbal apology like before. They would merely spend some time apart to cool off, her locked in her room and him tinkering away or in the library. Then after a while, she would feel guilty and show herself to him with some apology tea. He would always take the tea so eagerly that it made her wonder if he was as sorry as she was or if he just really liked the way she made his tea. Either way, it helped to settle things between them. At least until the next fight.

But she knew that tea wouldn't really help this situation, because this time he had actually demanded an apology. One she was adamant on giving him.

"Ridiculous man." She grumbled into the pillow. There was no reason for her to apologize. He should be thanking her for coming along and praising her for getting to the reactor in time before it detonated. If she hadn't, then the two of them and the whole town would have been blown to pieces.

Then again, by going after him she did go against his command of 'staying put inside the Tardis and not getting into trouble'. But surely helping him save the town was more important than obeying him, right?

_Of course it was. I didn't do anything wrong. He's just angry because he wasn't the one who saved the day like always. Arrogant and annoying idiot._

And yet, she loved him. With Chin Boy it was a simple crush that had slowly developed into caring. His childishness was endearing and had she loved the carefree feeling. It wasn't until this man with his steel-blue eyes, silver, curly hair, and distinguished features came that her attraction towards him developed into full blown love and affection. She adored the man: the way he held himself with striking elegance and gravitas, the way he ran a hand through his short curls when nervous, the way he licked his finger before turning the page and then pushed his reading glasses further up his nose, the way he smiled when walking on a new planet, the moments when he pulled her closer to him whenever immediate danger struck, the scent of his clothes – _stop._

Huffing, she shut her eyes hard to clear her mind of the thoughts. She was supposed to be angry with him. She _needed_ to be angry with him. Maybe that's what truly annoyed her about their fights: it was her feelings for him that ultimately never allowed her to stay angry with him, no matter how furious she was to begin with. She was always going back to him, always the one to give in first.

It wasn't just annoying… it was painful; because no matter how many times they fought she was the one who could never bear to continue. It was never _he_ who made the first move for a reunion, never _he_ who made the attempt to sooth _her_. And it was these fights and so called reconciliations that proved to her time and time again that he didn't feel for her what she felt for him. He didn't love her.

A tear fell onto the pillow and she realized that it wasn't from anger or frustration anymore.

_Damn him._

* * *

She didn't know how long she had slept, but if the aching stiffness was any indication, she would say it had been for a couple of hours. Sitting up, she winced at the pain in her neck and ran a hand over it.

Having decided that a shower was the best option for some relaxation, she slowly made her way to the bathroom. It wasn't much of a time for washing herself as it was sulking under the shower head, letting the water hit her pleasantly while she mulled over the situation. The more she thought about it, the guiltier she felt. Just another reason to be angry with him.

Suddenly the floor shook beneath her feet with surprising force. Her feet slipped from under her and she fell against the cold tiles, hurting her wrist in the process. The shaking didn't surprise her in the least; it often occurred when the Doctor was working on the Tardis, rebooting systems and fixing things that were already fixed – just something to distract himself after an argument with her. But that didn't stop her from blaming him for her injured wrist, all guilt from earlier going away in an instant. She massaged the wrist a little and winced at the twinge of pain.

_I'm going to kill him._

After the shower, she got dressed in an old t-shirt and pajama pants, tied her hair up, and headed to the library for a nice read, knowing from the earlier quake that he wouldn't be there. But the library doors never showed up, and she thought that maybe she had taken a wrong turn somewhere, despite the fact that she knew the way like the back of her hand.

Retracing her steps, she headed in the opposite direction and ended up at the kitchen. _Maybe some hot tea instead_ – none for the Doctor, mind you. But as she got the pot ready she couldn't help but wonder what the Doctor was doing at the moment, or if he was being tortured by their arguments as much as she was. She hoped he was.

Halfway through making her tea she heard shuffling behind her along with a muffled voice.

"Damn…you're here." She froze and grimaced at his words.

"Yes I am. I have just as much right to be in here as you do." She bit out harshly. He didn't respond and she heard the door click closed. Assuming that he had left, she sighed and finally turned to leave as well, her appetite for tea having disappeared, only to be startled by the sight of him standing rigidly in front of the door.

The momentary scare was quickly replaced with concern when she took in his disheveled state. His hair was messy and clothes a little worse for wear; his cardigan was bunched up in his hands, and when her eyes drifted higher she saw a make shift bandage, stained with blood, wrapped around his forearm.

"What happened?" She walked over to try to help but he moved away before she could lay a hand on him.

"Just a small accident while working on the Tardis. It's nothing" He said nonchalantly. Immediately he began to go from cabinet to cabinet, picking out a few basic foods, such as bread and fruits, and dumping them on his cardigan on the table. Her concern grew when she noticed that he was walking with a slight limp.

"Doctor, what the hell happened?"

"I told you. It's nothing." He stated flatly.

"Nothing? Doctor, you're limping and your arm is bleeding. Just this once, why can't you tell me?!"

"Damn it, Clara, because it doesn't concern you!" He slammed a cabinet door violently, making her jump, and faced her. An eerie silence settled between them, allowing hurt and fury to fix within her once again. He had never talked to her so rudely before.

"Why do you always have to do this? I just want to help you and instead of letting me you act like such a jerk."

He didn't say anything as he took out a couple of water bottles from the refrigerator and placed them with the food on his cardigan before picking it up as an improvised sack. She stared at his back while he walked to the door to leave but stopped halfway through the threshold. He didn't turn around but merely stood there for a second.

"You should finish that tea, and try to eat something else as well. You're going to need the energy. And the watches… don't forget the watches. They're important." His voice was laced with exhaustion, and if she wasn't in such a foul mood, she might have caught the hint of remorse. Instead all she could think about was how much she wanted to throw something in his direction to let out all of her pent up frustration.

"Nothing you just said made any sense. And don't tell me what to do." She added, not even trying to mask the scorn in her voice, letting it out for all it was worth and hoping it would cut him as much as his words had cut her.

He didn't reply and quietly shut the door behind him, finally leaving her alone again.

"Ugh! He's such a-a…insufferable git!" Out of no where, the room shook with the same force as before, causing the cup to shatter at her feet. Thankfully she was able to catch herself with the table before falling again.

"Oh stuff it you old cow!" She shouted into the air.

Storming out of the kitchen, she made to go back to her room, fuming all the way and replaying the scene in the kitchen over and over in her head, which only agitated her even more.

_He's so annoying and disrespectful and arrogant and a pain in the ass and I hope he has another accident! Well, maybe not because he did look pretty beat up. I hope he's okay. What? No! I'm supposed to be angry with him!_

"Why is it so hard to be angry at him?!" She shouted, her voice echoing a little. Looking around, she realized that she had been walking for a longer time than she normally would have, her room should have showed up by now. Maybe she had been too busy being angry that she had taken a turn in the wrong direction again? No, she knew these halls so well that she could walk to her room blindfolded if she had to. Something was wrong.

Standing still, she waited and listened before continuing down the direction she was going, taking tentative steps. Everything seemed quiet enough but then…

"Water?" The sound was coming from the far end, around the corner. Curiosity getting the best of her, she ran down the rest of the way and made to turn the corner but fell onto the floor instead as something crashed into her. Her head smacked onto the hard floor and she gasped in pain. She blinked heavily as her head pounded, blurring her vision. She felt movement above her and a distant voice calling her name.

"Clara? – Clara! Clara!" Soon every noise increased tenfold like fireworks exploding in her ears. Looking up she saw the Doctor's face.

"What the hell, Doctor. Can't you watch where you're going?"

"No time for that. C'mon, get up." He pulled at her but she refused to move so quickly; her head was still spinning.

"Hold on, give me a minute." She replied, raising a hand to her pounding head.

"Clara, we really don't have time for this." But she paid his words no heed and stayed unmoving on the floor to collect herself.

"You need to get up _now_." He grabbed her wrist and pulled it only to have her gasp at the pain and pull her hand away.

"Ow! Watch it!"

"Fucking hell, now isn't the time to argue with me. We need to go!" As if to emphasize the urgency in his voice, the noise she had heard earlier suddenly became louder, much louder. Looking past the Doctor, she saw something that made her blood run cold: water, tons of it, racing down the corridor towards them.

This time she didn't protest when the Doctor grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet, finally noticing that he was soaked to the bone when her body leaned into his.

"Run!"

They raced through the halls hand in hand, the Doctor leading the way as they blindly turned corners.

"We need to find a place to hide in. Look for a room or something." He said breathlessly. But no door came in sight. The sound of rushing water grew louder and she looked behind her to find the waves getting closer.

"Doctor-"

"Just keep running!" But they didn't have much time now. The water was reaching them at an alarming pace and soon they would be engulfed in the waves.

"C'mon old girl!" He shouted out of no where. More running.

"Any time now!" Whatever he was pleading for didn't happen and they kept running. Clara began to feel little spurts of water sprinkling onto her from behind and her panic grew.

"Doctor!"

"PLEASE!"

The Tardis gave a violent thrust. The Doctor slipped and fell, bringing Clara down with him. Hiding her face, she braced herself for the impact and crushing force of the water but found none coming. Breathing heavily, she lifted her head to look around in awe. The tons of water were completely gone and now there were only a couple of small puddles around them. She felt water seeping through her clothes and looked down to find the Doctor lying under her, his eyes closed and chest rising and falling rapidly.

"Well," He said with a soft chuckle that made his chest rumble under her fingers. "That certainly is one way to meet up again."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** I hope I don't bore you with this one but I gotta get the situation explained so might as well get it out of the way now.

* * *

Clara stayed silent. Her mind racing so fast with what had just happened that she couldn't find what to say first. Everything was so confusing! One moment she's in the kitchen arguing with a beat up and moody Doctor, and the next she's sitting on a wet Doctor's lap while they try to catch their breath after running away from water. And what was with the water?

A stabbing pain shot through her and she looked down to see the Doctor inspecting the wrist she had injured earlier.

"Sorry." He said with genuine concern in his voice. "Wanted to check that it wasn't broken – which it isn't by the way. But it's starting to get a little swollen. You need to be more careful."

"Me?!" His proximity to her suddenly became blatantly obvious and she felt her face heat up at realizing that she was still sitting on his lap. Scrambling to her feet in a panic, she backed away a little and pointed an accusing finger at him.

"It's your fault! Your tinkering with your stupid Tardis made me slip in the fucking shower! And then you show up in the kitchen with a bleeding arm and shout at me when I try to help you but you act like a git and just leave-"

"Yeah, maybe you should-"

"And then you show up again soaking wet with no injury whatsoever and knock me to the ground and tell me to run from a flash flood and then the water just randomly disappears and now you're telling me to be more careful – _what the hell is going on?!_"

She was hysterical, pacing back and forth while trying to even out her breathing after her shouting.

"It's okay, Clara – hey, look at me." She resisted at first, not knowing what to think of the situation or his sudden change in demeanor but soon he had her in a firm grip from her shoulders and turned her to him, waiting until she met his eyes as he rubbed his hands up and down her arms to try and comfort.

"Everything is going to be fine, just calm down." She nodded, closing her eyes and taking slow and even breathes while taking pleasure in the warmth being produced by his hands despite the fact that they were relatively cold and his clothes were dripping on hers a little.

"Better?"

She nodded again. "Yeah."

"I take it, from your missing watch and that outburst that you are at the very beginning of our little maze game, right?"

"Please start making sense or I'm going to punch you so hard."

He smirked and she found it annoying that he was so amused when nothing was making any sense whatsoever.

"So you are then. You know, you said that you were going to be a little frantic but I didn't think it would be as bad as-"

"Doctor, explain."

"It's the Tardis." He stated, making a show of looking around the quiet corridor. "Her internal systems are malfunctioning."

"Okay, but what does that mean exactly." She asked, moving away from him so that she wouldn't be splashed with water as he wrung his coat and shook his hair. But she just ended up stepping into a small puddle, wetting her slippers. _Ugh, knew I should've put on some trainers_.

"It means that she can't control what's going on inside her." The Doctor continued. "As far as I can tell only rooms and parts of corridors are being moved around uncontrollably, with the rooms themselves staying intact inside, but if I don't find the console room and fix the systems soon, she'll begin to loose control of other, _more important_, things as well."

"Like what?"

"Like the air around us might be sucked out of our lungs at any moment."

Her eyes widened. "So we can suffocate at any time?"

"That's just one possibility. We could also get crushed by an increase in gravity, or the temperature could change drastically so that we die of hypothermia or get burned alive or-"

"I get it." She interrupted, starting to get more worried by the second. He must've noticed because he came closer to her again, only this time instead of aiming for her arms, he brought a hand to her face, thumb stroking her cheek almost imperceptibly. His hands were still cold and she shivered a little.

"Don't worry." His voice was above a whisper but it somehow sounded so low and intimate, as if it was trying to hide from any prying ears even though they were completely alone, like it was only meant for her and no one else. She didn't know what to make of it.

They were silent for a second before the Doctor seemed to catch himself and quickly pulled away, running a hand through his wet hair before continuing with what he was saying before.

"The rooms and halls may be shifting unnoticeably but the Tardis isn't taking this passively. That shaking? That's her doing her best to fight back and fix things, isn't that right old girl?" He patted the wall affectionately and Clara rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't look like she's doing a very good job of it. We almost drowned!"

"That was my fault actually. I fell into the ocean earlier. Once on shore I tried using the sonic to locate the exit but I guess I must've messed with the room's already delicate circuits because the room's center of gravity changed and pushed everything out the door."

Clara was about to ask how in the world there could be an ocean in the Tardis, but then remembered that she had once come across a room that had a mountain range that could possibly rival the Himalayas back on Earth. She sometimes wondered if rooms like that were built into the ship's systems for a reason, if the Doctor designed them out of boredom, of if the Tardis created them simply for the sake of showing off her _infinite space_. Either way, now really wasn't the time to inquire about it. She still had more important questions to ask.

"Can't you use the sonic now? Use some tracking setting-thing to locate the console room?"

"After what happened with the ocean, I'd rather not risk damaging the systems any further. Besides, I had already tried doing that when I first noticed what was occurring and it didn't help things much. The shifts are happening too randomly. Every time the sonic had at least half a path traced down to the console room, the halls would change again and the sonic had to start the calculations all over. For all we know, the halls have changed over a hundred times whilst we've been standing here without us noticing."

She took a moment to look around, imagining the earlier flood disappearing and reappearing in some other distant part of the ship. If the changing positions of their surroundings were the only problem she would have found the entire situation intriguing and exciting, if a bit annoying. But with the threat that they could literally die at any moment hanging in front of her, the idea didn't seem like as much fun.

"How long ago do you think this started?"

"Ah," He smiled again, eyes shining with his earlier amusement. "That depends on _who _and _when_ you ask." She gave him a puzzled look.

"You're being cryptic again."

"I probably should've mentioned it earlier: the shifts aren't only happening through space, they're also happening through _time_. Luckily the Tardis' lose of control of that bit isn't as profound but it's still enough so that it's happening around the recent past and the near future. That's another thing we need to look out for: ourselves. We can interact with one another but we need to stay clear of our own self. Don't want to create a paradox; especially now that the Tardis is so vulnerable. Got it?"

Clara nodded slowly, her mind still processing this onslaught of information.

"Wait, so you're from the future?"

"Technically yes, seeing as I've been stuck in these halls longer than you have."

"So the you I fought with in the kitchen…"

"Was probably a future me since I haven't been in the kitchen with you. At least not yet." He smiled, obviously taking pleasure in these strange events and Clara still found it to be a little weird seeing him so at ease; after all the last two times she'd seen him was when they were both positively furious at one another. This whole situation was one massive headache after another.

"Okay, so how long have you been stuck here?"

"As of now? Lets see, it's been about…" He lifted his wrist and Clara finally caught sight of the infamous watch. It looked like any other wrist watch and was pitch black.

"10 hours, 44 minutes, and 26 seconds in counting."

"_10 hours?!_" He nodded.

"And it seems that that's only the beginning. The last time I saw you you told me you'd been stuck here longer than that."

She opened her mouth to ask how much but thought better of it. It'll only bring more stress to know how long she'd be trapped in this so called maze.

"What about you?" He inquired. "How long has this you been walking around for?"

"Since that shake in the shower, I'm guessing 3 hours." She said. He bowed his head in a single nod, pursing his lips together in thought. She was about to speak up again when the lights suddenly began to dim to a very soft glow before going out all together. She couldn't see her surroundings and jumped a bit when she felt something grip her hand. Her eyes soon adjusted to see the Doctor's hand holding hers.

"Right, we need to move on. We've been standing here for so long that we've practically been begging for something bad to happen. I'm surprised the ground hasn't opened up below our feet and swallowed us whole already."

"That can happen?"

"That's how I got separated from you and fell into the ocean; almost got my fingers chopped off when it was closing in again."

The Doctor took out his sonic, using it as a flashlight to help them see where they were going. They walked in a cautious but brisk pace, the Doctor leading the way with Clara following closely behind, her hand still in his. The only sound was coming from their steps when soft clinks and whirls began to resonate softly through the walls. She surmised that the sounds were probably always there; but now, with everything else so quiet and the eerie green glow of the sonic gliding on the walls around them, it was getting a bit unsettling.

"This is really creepy." She said, instinctively bringing a hand up to bite at her nails. The Doctor's grip on her hand tightened.

"Don't pay attention to any that. Focus on finding a door."

"What kind of door?"

"Red door, blue door, fat door, skinny door – it doesn't matter. We need to check every single door we can find. The console room could be behind any one of them."

Coming to an intersection, the Doctor pointed the sonic into each direction, checking to see if anything showed nearby. After checking one way he was about to move to the next when Clara spotted something.

"Wait, shine it over there again, close to the ground." He did as she said, walking closer to get a better look. A small door came into view; it seemed to be barely 3 feet tall.

"Seems we finally found something that's just the right size for you, eh Clara?" She slapped his arm but smiled at the sound of his faint laugh. Turning back to see if she could spot anything else, she was greeted with the sight of a metal wall covering the way they had come from.

"It's a good thing we went this way before it changed. C'mon, let's check it before it disappears as well." Putting the sonic back into his coat pocket, he crouched down and turned the knob. The door swung open and light shone onto the hall, blinding them a little. Due to the height of the door, Clara couldn't really see anything inside so she crouched down next to him.

One thing was for sure, it wasn't the console room. Instead it looked like a storage room; random objects littered the place: on the floor, in boxes, on shelves. The Doctor sighed and reached to close the door but Clara stopped him.

"Don't. Maybe we can find something that'll help." Without waiting for him to reply, she crawled inside and began looking around. He crawled in after her.

"Clara, this is just where the Tardis dumps everything that isn't used anymore. You won't find anything useful here."

"Maybe not useful to you." She said with a grin as she shoved some things over.

"What are you-"

"Found it!" She ran over to him, holding something in each hand and showing them off proudly to him.

"…Shoes." They weren't just any shoes; they were his old cream colored Converse that he used to wear all the time in his tenth body. And they were as dirty as he'd remembered.

"You don't mind do you? I know they're too big for me but anything beats wearing there soggy slippers." She gestured to her feet.

He was dumbfounded for a second, not really knowing how to respond. Those shoes had been his obsession after all; he had never let anybody wear them before. Then again, nobody had ever asked before. But why was he finding the idea of her wearing his old shoes so… pleasing?

He cleared his throat when he noticed that she was still staring at him, waiting for his response. "Uh… yeah… sure. Go ahead."

Clara immediately set to taking off her shoes and lacing up his, tying the laces as tight as she could so that they wouldn't slip off. After she was done, she stood up, moving her feet side to side and walking a little so that they could admire her work for a bit before bursting out in laughter.

"They look ridiculously huge on me!"

"I don't know," He started, calming down a bit. "I think you look quite endearing in them." Her gaze shot up to his and she watched his eyes widen at the realization of what he had just said out loud.

"If you're going to look around, hurry up. We don't have time to waste digging through this junk." He said angrily, quickly walking away from her. Clara swiftly turned back toward the pile of stuff she had been looking at earlier, but she wasn't paying much attention to what she was digging through as she was to what the Doctor had blurted out.

Had he really just said that? Was he flirting with her? Had he just _flirted_ with her? Well, if his panicked escape was any sign then the answer would be yes, he had… in his own way. But what was she supposed to do now? What was she supposed to say? She couldn't just let it slide, not when she'd been waiting for something like this to happen, to finally have him show her that he liked her. _Liked_ her, liked her.

_I better come up with something fast before he – _ something caught her attention, something among the pile of rubbish.

Two pitch black watches.

"Doctor?" A sudden yell filled the air, scaring her. She turned but didn't see the Doctor anywhere, only the opened door.

"Doctor!" She ran to the small door and slid onto her knees before taking a look at the halls outside, hoping to find him. But it was too late and just as suddenly as he had appeared, he was gone.


End file.
